It rains…

The clock strikes 12 in the night, the only time shared both by today and tomorrow. In Mumbai the rain has finally had a start; the month long wait ends. And what was a drizzle in the day is now a downpour. The TV Channels have started telecasting the fresh rainy scenes of roads and lanes. Certainly, tomorrow’s newspapers will not be free from the same pictures with lyrical captions.

Like any other year I have placed myself in the balcony to welcome the newly arrived monsoon.

It rains…when nature craves for beauty. Perhaps rain is the most beautiful attire of nature - more beautiful than summer and winter. Everybody, be it human or animals, insects or trees – all look so fresh, lively and natural. Beauty unbound.

It rains… when body cries for wetness. Rain moistures the palms, the lips and the voices. Yes, the skin, which has got tanned in summer and dried in winter needs rains the most. It turns soft and sweet. Once strong and wild, now looks so delicate. Especially, the fairer species mesmerise the onlookers as rain drops play hide and seek in their long curly hair.

It rains... when air wishes to be neat and cool, water wishes to be pure and full; when land wants to be clean and green. Rain symbolizes serenity and peace of mind. It embodies happiness and completeness.

The Jamun tree from my balcony looks lovely. Each leaf of it appears as if it is carrying an offspring to bring about new life. The branches look as gentle as sponge. The swimming pool behind looks contented with unbounded pleasure. The overflowing water gives a sense of submission and satisfaction after being free its limbs from chains of artificiality. I can see through the drowsy streetlight a small plant peeping out of the neighbouring building crack planning for a revenge on concrete. Two street children wrapped in polythene play pebbles under the lights as if they are out for a trip to moon.

I come back to my desk with a drenched mood. My YouTube is playing popular lines of the hashyakabi Dr Kumar Biswas … Koi deewana kehta hai, koi pagal samjhta hai; magar dharti ki bechaini ko bas badal samjhta hai…

The restlessness of the earth finally has the answer.

Tomorrow is busier than today

This is not a mere assertion, but a conclusion I am making based on my own experiences with self and with others. Many things in life, which I postponed thinking to take them up at a later date - when I would be relatively free - remains undone for ever. On the contrary, quite a few things which I forced myself to do in spite of seemingly hectic schedule worked out well in the end. I had similar experiences with people who have assisted me in PeFSSED. Many friends, who genuinely felt that they are tied up at present for a genuine reason, and they can contribute more to the organization on a later date, have admitted that they have actually moved to a busier schedule with time.

Indeed with every new day, we get to interact with new people, encounter new situations - which make the cobweb of life further knitted and complex. During childhood days, for all the 24 hours, we, the typical middle class, have to do two typical things - i. Curricular (Study) ii. Non-curricular (play, paint and poetry). Many other activities though are related to us but are taken care by our parents and other care takers. We have got few friends - all of them are only from school and colony, less are the isuses, and few are the dreams.

Though we tend to forget things of past, but we tend to remember things which bear high relevance for us beyond its temporal and spatial dimension. And with time, these significant things keep increasing. As full grown adults our 24 hours are not the same as of a kid going to school and back at home study and play. As adults, dreams are many - as it has piled up since childhood days to youthful times; day to day challenges are numerous - because of the actions and reactions in response to both things of past and present. List of activities increases with every day. Managing 24 hours become more and more difficult with passing time. Hence people become busier day by day.

This monotonicity of busyness with time is in line with physics law of entropy or second law of thermodynamics which says - Entropy (disorderliness) of the universe can only increase. Similarly, I feel busyness can only increase with time. Postponing soft tasks, which may be penning a passage or extending a helping hand, with the expectation of an idler tomorrow is like running after a mirage as tomorrow can only be busier than today.

One in eighteen years versus three per monsoon

I was in Visakhapatnam in one monsoon to see my wife. My wife was doing her masters there and she had taken a rented flat on beach road adjacent to sea. Being born in Puri (a costal town of Orissa) I have special affection for sea. My mother says in my infanthood I was exposed to sea so many times that I used to identify all sorts of water as ‘sea’ – when I feel thirsty I used to ask for a glass of sea :). However I had never seen sea in rain. This desire I wished to fulfill while in Visakhapatnam.

One day it was raining heavily. My wife did not get excited with my idea to go to sea in the pounding rain - may be because she had witnessed it during rain number of times on her way to hospital. She preferred to stay indoors and volunteered me with her umbrella. I satiated my desire to see sea taking bath in the rain. It gives immense pleasure when dreams come true, particularly the childhood ones. 'Gain' in pleasure but 'loss' in drive... one needs to have dreams to keep going...

“Ladies umbrellas are too small” - back home I asked wife while she handed me a towel.

“Actually, this umbrella I am having since class 7.” - She replied with a smile.

There was less - a sense of achievement and more - a sense of guilt in her statement. Guilt - because I might have faced discomfort with the relatively small sized umbrella.

“Don’t tell me you have used it for the last eighteen years!” – I gave her a dumb look.

“Yes I have.” – came the casual reply.

I was in the habit of losing umbrellas – on average three per monsoon. My economist friends would argue endorsing my habit that when one loses and re-purchases – this is good for the economy as it results in transfer of wealth, more consumption and hence production, more GDP, more employment - all positive signals.

“But this is surprising… how could you manage to do this!” – Still the fact has not sunk in me.

Being well aware of my losing habits, her answer to this was probably within the question she posed to me that she is equally surprised that how could I manage to lose them so frequently.

I did not say anything to her. I said to myself in defense – it is an art. The same answer I gave when I was asked by one of my professors – how did you manage to do that - after I forgot my laptop in an auto.

Yes it is an art. But how about not losing and maintaining the same umbrella for eighteen years. When she handed me the umbrella, it was wrapped in a cover and placed in the cup board. In the afternoon I saw her neatly packing the umbrella back after it got sun-dried. Yes, this is also another art. But surely, a far superior one!